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A city of 2.5 million surrounded by mountains and subtropical greenery, quietly powering a disproportionate share of the global technology supply chain from an island smaller than the Netherlands.
Should you visit Taiwan? Absolutely. Should you put all of your eggs in one basket staying solely in Taipei? I'd think twice. You can get most of the same experience elsewhere in the country with more affordable accommodation and mitigate the worst of the weather.
Taipei had eluded me for several years. Between the ongoing regional tensions and a lack of any clear guaranteed period of dry, hot and sunny weather during the calendar year, it had been somewhere easy to deprioritise.
Having already been on the continent, spending the preceding three months in Bangkok, there didn't seem a better time to head further east and see what's on offer.
Airbnb is underwhelming in Taipei. Perhaps not quite to the same extent as somewhere like Tokyo, but at a price and quality level that is by no means enticing. Accommodation for this month would've been comfortably the most expensive I'd taken at any point, without much quality to show for it.
I stayed at an apart-hotel called Little Minsheng in Songshan, which on arrival felt more like a converted set of former commercial offices than dedicated apartments. I'd recommend it for a week-long stay. It was clean, well managed and relatively spacious, but for anything longer it's missing some amenities that make an extended stay more comfortable.
Apartments are small and expensive. Demand is high and supply scarce.
The good news is that these prices represent something of an anomaly within your wider budget. The cost of accommodation feels entirely disconnected from the day-to-day costs you'll encounter in the city, and diverges just as sharply from what you'd pay elsewhere in the country.
Given you can have just as authentic a Taiwanese experience at a £35-a-night hotel in Kaohsiung as a £50-a-night Airbnb studio apartment in Taipei, it makes the city feel particularly poor value for a longer stay.
And this shouldn't be confused with a comparison between, say, London and a provincial UK city like Norwich, where any financial saving on accommodation would be to the detriment of the experience. Your accommodation budget will go a lot further outside Taipei, and there's little reason not to exploit that.
Out of anywhere I've visited in the last few years, Taipei was the sole city where I found it impossible to settle into a consistent daily rhythm. Even after visiting ten or more spaces, I struggled to land on a regular spot to work from.
The city has no shortage of places geared up for it. In fact it's one of the more work-friendly cities you'll come across. Yet nothing quite matched my rather specific requirements of abundant natural light, large tables, plentiful toilets and late opening hours.
ALL DAY ROASTING COMPANY - This is where I eventually settled on as my primary workspace which I've written about in detail further below.
WeWork - My intention was to work from here for the month. However the Taiwan business now falls under WeWork China rather than WeWork Global, which means if you have an All Access Pass you're limited to ten visits per quarter. These have to be booked manually through their support team by email, and access is restricted until 6pm. Unlike other WeWorks with fixed end times, this is a hard out at 18:00, with staff promptly chasing you to return your ID and vacate the building so they can end their day. It's actually a great place to work from. There's plenty of natural light, it's in the middle of the Xinyi commercial district and never that busy. But it's just not worth the hassle. If there's one benefit of WeWork access it's convenience and reliability, and you'll get neither with how this is set up for international guests.
CE' & LIB-RARY 遼寧店 - An interesting concept. It combines a ground floor cafe, with a library and coworking space across the upper two floors. Access to the working area on the third floor costs 140 NT for the day, with unlimited espresso drinks included, making it exceptional value by every measure. The drawback is the complete silence. I could sense mild agitation from the book-readers in the room at the faintest sound of a chair scraping as you attempted to stand up. Perfect if you don't need rock-solid internet and have no calls to take. Open until 9:30pm.
Plats Work & Coffee - Another novel concept. Entirely unmanned, you receive a QR code on booking which grants you access, with payment by card at the end of the session. Again great value, at around 180 NT for 4 hours, but the near-total silence makes it impractical if you need to take calls at any point. Clean, well maintained and with robust internet.
SkyCo Nanjing Fuxing - Likely your best option if you want a dedicated coworking space around the Songshan area. I came close to signing up but decided against it after finding the air conditioning shuts off at 6pm, and the space already felt stuffy when I visited mid-afternoon. Good quality interior in a solid location. Other branches across the city.
Starbucks Reserve - Starbucks is generally one of the last places you'll find me recommending as a serious workspace, but if you need somewhere with minimal fuss around Da'an, this one is worth serious consideration. Possibly the largest outlet I've ever set foot in, with large tables and power sockets set up, open until 10pm daily with reliable speeds of 80mbps or above.
Sky Cofi - Part of the SkyCo coworking space, occupying the top floor of the office building and open to the public. Pay as you go with a minimum spend per hour. Or there is a day pass with unlimited drinks for around 400 NT. No proper desks, so you're working from stools on elevated tables, but it's lively and ambient if you need somewhere to take calls throughout the day.
The Common Table - A coworking-focused cafe opposite the Taipei Dome. I'd have spent more time here had it been closer to where I was staying. The best internet speeds I encountered in the city at 600mbps or above, with large, purpose-built desks set up for working against the windows. Operates a minimum spend policy across a two-hour window, open until 6:30pm.
FutureWard Central - Worth skipping. Situated in the basement with little natural light, it had the atmosphere of somewhere you'd struggle to get through a full working day.
JustCo - Arguably the nicest dedicated coworking space I looked at, but the sign-up process felt needlessly bureaucratic for a short stay, requiring a call with their sales team and a two-month deposit. Worth investigating if you're planning an extended stint in the city, but not if you're passing through.
If you are looking at your costs over the course of a month, Taipei is something of a mixed bag.
The one place you will notice a substantial difference is the cost of eating out. Food is remarkably inexpensive.
A simple rice or noodle meal, or an assortment of breakfast items in a local restaurant, can cost under NT$100 (£2.35). Larger sit-down lunches at a casual Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese place routinely come in at around NT$200 (£4.70), with generous portions and a quality you'd pay several times over for in Europe.
As someone who almost universally eats out at all times of the day, when you look back over the course of a month you will no doubt feel this saving compound. Or, more likely, end up returning home several kilos heavier after squeezing in an extra couple of daily meals.
Rides on the MRT cost around NT$20 (£0.47), with longer journeys on local trains not too much higher. Travelling around the country via the High Speed Rail network comes at a price that might only get you from Stansted Airport to Liverpool Street in London.
When it comes to coffee and drinks from bars, prices begin to mirror or even exceed what you might expect to pay in Western Europe. Under 500ml of craft beer at NT$360 (£8.40) could quite feasibly cost several multiples the price of your lunch. Dine-in prices at coffee shops tend to factor in seat time, with maximum stay limits or minimum spend restrictions often applied.
You will likely need to overbudget on accommodation given the scarce supply and high prices, but you can quite feasibly balance that over the course of the month assuming you are not surviving on a nightly diet centred around triple-hopped IPAs.
Taipei has what I could best describe as a modest charm. Even its biggest fans would likely stop short of proclaiming it among the world's greatest cities.
Its personality is orderly and functional. Its character is measured and mature. It lacks the frenetic energy and immediacy of its Southeast Asian counterparts like Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh.
It doesn't feel like a city yearning for global recognition. It's somewhere entirely content with its place and purpose. A home for its residents to live and work rather than putting on a show to entertain.
Looked at strictly through the narrow lens of its urban environment, Taipei is underwhelming by global standards. When the clouds and rain settle in for a prolonged stretch, there can feel very little to justify your presence. Navigating between its near-identical blocks of commercial buildings and often drab building stock can feel unrewarding.
Yet when the clouds lift, it becomes an entirely different proposition. Hiking requires next to no effort or preparation, with an array of trails easily accessible from almost anywhere within the metropolitan area. Hundreds of kilometres of cycle paths lining the flood defences along the city's rivers make for perfect routes into its suburban fringes. The night markets and city parks carry a renewed energy as larger crowds are drawn out.
If you can magically time the weather, Taipei has a lot to offer. But it's worth building in the flexibility to change your plans should the weather have other ideas.
Taiwan observes National Standard Time (NST), which is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Unlike the UK, Taiwan does not observe daylight saving time, meaning the gap narrows to 7 hours during British Summer Time. If you have some flexibility with your working hours and are happy to finish towards 11pm it gives you a good degree of overlap with European colleagues.
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With a weak Airbnb market, if you're planning a month-long stay you won't be issued the luxury of being overly picky about where you base yourself.
The good news is that on the ground Taipei feels relatively uniform. Your experience of the city isn't likely to differ too radically depending on wherever you opt for.
With no meaningful reduction in nightly rates for longer bookings, you could consider splitting your time across a number of areas to see if anything resonates particularly well.
Worth noting that each of these areas listed are enormous.
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After much trial and error, I settled on All Day Roasting in Songshan as a reliable afternoon workspace, around a 15-minute walk from where I was staying.
It's one of the better cafe/coworking hybrids I came across in the city, with open-plan seating across a wooden-beamed industrial interior. The front is a conventional coffee shop setting with small tables and soft seating. Towards the back are two large benches, each comfortably accommodating up to eight people, purposefully set up for working.
There's subtle background ambience from the music and conversations at the front, enough to stop it feeling stale without compromising your ability to focus.
It's one of the later-opening coffee shops in the city, serving until 10pm, though the working area closes at 7pm, at which point you transition to the by-then quieter coffee shop seating. Prices are on the higher side for a quick coffee on the move, but considering you're getting a reliable workspace thrown in, it's great value. I would generally arrive around 2pm and leave towards 7, having worked through two or three coffees and one of their tasty cakes. There's no minimum spend unlike other time-based spaces, and it's common to see others settled in for sustained periods. They stock a range of speciality beans for pour-over with a rotating selection.
Staff are friendly, welcoming and can converse in basic English. Not somewhere to rely on for a full working week, but if you want somewhere reliably ambient to split up your day and get things done, it's worth popping by.
Launched in January 2025 and upgraded a year later, Taiwan's digital nomad visa now allows stays of up to two years, built as an initial six months with three possible extensions.
Eligibility requires you to be from a visa-exempt country (the UK qualifies), earn at least USD $40,000 annually if you're over 30 (or $20,000 if under), and hold an average monthly bank balance of $10,000 over the past six months. Already hold a digital nomad visa from another country? That substitutes for the income requirement.
You can't work for Taiwanese clients, can't sponsor dependants, and need to stay mindful of the tax position if you cross 90 days. Under 183 days, there's no local income tax liability.
Processing takes five to eight business days. Apply via the Taipei Representative Office from outside Taiwan, or through the Bureau of Consular Affairs if you're already in-country on visa-free entry.
Worth knowing: the Employment Gold Card offers more, including an open work permit and national health insurance, but the eligibility bar is considerably higher. For most nomads, the digital nomad visa is sufficient.
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One of the most enjoyable elements of visiting Taipei was the close proximity to some great hikes on your doorstep.
One of the best and most convenient options is Yangmingshan National Park, which you can see hovering to the north of the city between bouts of cloud, though during wetter periods it disappears entirely.
Even relying solely on public transport, it couldn't be easier to get to. Take the Tamsui-Xinyi Line north to Shilin station, walk a couple of minutes to the Fu Lin Elementary School bus stop, and several routes will take you up to the park in around 30 minutes, all payable with your EasyCard.
Once at the top you'll find a number of well-maintained hiking paths around dormant volcanoes, with hot springs, temples and plenty of options for lunch or coffee, with buses ready to take you back down.
The climb up to Qixing Peak was remarkable not just for the views from the top, but for the warmth of the welcomes from locals along the way.
Worth planning a trip up on a clear day if you have reasonable confidence it will stay that way.
When it wasn't raining, the weather was as close to perfect as you might hope for visiting Taiwan. Days were mild, bordering on hot on clear days, making it ideal for hiking and cycling outdoors.
December is the most popular month for tourism in Taipei, but with sunsets just after 5pm it wouldn't be a time of year of any interest to me personally. I didn't hear many people speak positively about the increasingly humid, wet and typhoon-prone Taiwanese summer, which generally stretches from May to September.
If you are considering visiting Taipei, I would suggest approaching it differently to a conventional one-month Airbnb stay, for a few reasons.
Airbnbs are not great in the city. They are expensive, small and poor value compared to what else you will find in the region. You could also quite feasibly find yourself stuck through a prolonged spell of bad weather. Taipei simply isn't worth hanging around in the rain and murk if you don't have to and are on a limited time schedule.
With all this in mind, treat it as an opportunity to explore the entire country. Build in a degree of flexibility and make the most of the ability to get between cities quickly and cheaply.
Outside Taipei, hotel prices become incredibly good value. In the other large cities of Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, expect to pay around £35 a night for a quality hotel room in the city centre. I spent five nights across those three cities and you could easily spend a week in each, and that's without touching the more rugged and rural eastern coast. You can easily wake up one day, have a leisurely morning, take a regional train to the next city and be at your desk by 2pm without any stress. I was intentionally choosing hotels with good open-plan lobby spaces to work from, which provided a better working setup than anything I found in Taipei.
The south of the country generally sees much milder conditions. It can be a postcard-worthy, clear-blue-skied 26-degree day just 140 minutes away in Kaohsiung via the HSR.
Assuming you get a bout of good weather, there's otherwise more than enough on hand to warrant a month in Taipei. But if you're on a tight time schedule, there are better ways to spend it than dodging the rain in Taipei.
You will encounter expats in Taipei but generally at a much lower rate than in more typical remote work hotspots. Most I came across were involved in teaching roles within the city, with a handful of professionals also working for companies based in the country.
Craft beer bars and Irish pubs appeared to be the central hubs for expat socialising, and you'll inevitably find plenty of tourists at the main sites close to Ximen.
I left with a glowingly positive impression of the Taiwanese people. Even though English is commonly not spoken to any great depth, there was a continuous willing effort to compensate for my near-total absence of Mandarin. In more intimate settings such as restaurants or coffee shops, I found them expressing a great deal of enthusiasm and curiosity about what had brought you to their country. Interactions became increasingly warm on repeat visits to venues, and it felt easy to build something of a rapport, potentially due to it being a less transient city in general.
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